Finding Normal
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- £9.49
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- £9.49
Publisher Description
Perfect for fans of Jamie Sumner and Barbara Dee, this “sincere and heartfelt” (The Horn Book) middle grade novel about friendship, belonging, and the power of community follows a girl whose family is uprooted after a flood destroys their house.
After a horrible storm floods her neighborhood, twelve-year-old Temple and her family are forced to move to a new town. They are some of the lucky ones, able to secure temporary housing relatively quickly. But Temple doesn’t feel so lucky starting over at a brand-new school halfway through the year and feeling a weird spotlight on her family’s situation from her new classmates. At home, things aren’t any better as her family struggles to adjust while figuring out how they can afford to rebuild.
When Temple sees a flyer for a local fundraiser, she decides she can do the same thing for her family. It would get her one big step closer to her old school, friends, and life. After enlisting the help of some new friends, Temple kicks her plan into action, quickly realizing it needs to be much bigger to help not only her family, but the dozens of others affected by the flood.
But adding the pressures of the fundraiser to the strain of grappling with all the recent changes may be more than Temple can handle. As she searches for a return to normal, can she figure out what’s truly important?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A devastating storm upsets every aspect of sixth grader Temple Baxter's comforting life, inspiring her to make waves of her own, in this accessible, character-driven drama by Faris (the Gabby Ghost Hunter series). When flooding from a storm displaces her family, Temple is ousted from her private school's popular clique. Lacking flood insurance to offset renovation costs, the Baxters move in with a neighbor and Temple transfers to public school to save money; at their temporary residence, she's tasked with babysitting her three-year-old sister while their parents navigate home repairs. To turn "the absolute worst day of her life" around, Temple ambitiously plans a high-profile fundraising concert to benefit her family and others affected by the Moorestown flood—and to show up her former fair-weather friends. But new pals gradually impart lessons about acceptance, openness, and trust that evolve Temple's self-serving agenda, while missteps—including slipping grades, childcare failures, and a booking error—emphasize the importance of delegation and teamwork. Though the third-person narration occasionally feels distant and some plot points strain credulity, themes of community, resilience, and youth empowerment buoy a sincere tale enriched by Faris's personal experience as a flood survivor, as discussed in an author's note. Main characters read as white. Ages 9–13.
